"When I was just a little girl, my father, who is the chief of the Pedbony, made a treaty with the White General known as Jackson. Him and his men marched into our village. We were severely outgunned. That’s when my father confronted him head on. He showed no signs of fear, nor was he impressed by their weapons.
"Who are you?" Chief Hottah asked in a stern voice.
"Oh, The Rosy speaks English?" General Jackson said. The rest of his men laughed with him.
"I ask again." Chief Hottah said, with a serious face. "Who are you?"
General Jackson kept a confident face as he introduced himself.
"Well, General Jackson. Why do you disturb my village. We are a peaceful tribe."
"Well see, we was just wondering if we can pass over your land. We encountered another tribe on the way here. They weren't to peaceful so, neither were we."
Jackson's men started laughing again.
"So is that all? You just wish to pass through?"
"Yep. So let's make a deal. You let my men and I pass through skip, free whenever we like and we will do for you-"
"Stop." Chief Hottah interrupted. "I will not make a 'white man's deal'. Pass through, you will receive no resistance from us."
General Jackson looked dumbfounded. He was going to offer to rid of the rival tribes and give them more land. But this was better than nothing.
"Come on men!" Jackson ordered. And they all started riding through the village.
"That was mighty kind of you chief." Jackson said in a mocking tone to Chief Hottah. "I will be back to check up on you guys. Maybe you will want a white man's deal then."
"That was the first time we met General Jackson, but it would not be our last."
Several weeks later, General Jackson and his men marched on the village. Once again, Chief Hottah met with him.
"Well, go ahead and pass." Chief Hottah said.
"That's not why I'm here, Chief." Jackson said. "See, I told the higher ups about this here village. Told them that you rosies were a nice group of fellers, and they said that we have no need to be aggressive toward each other."
This should've came as a relief to Chief Hottah, but he knew there was a catch.
"So, to make sure we are on the same page, we are going to confiscate all of your weapons. Just so we can build a little bit of trust."
"I told you, we are a peaceful tribe." Hottah said. "All we carry are tools."
"Don’t you lie to me you no-good Rosie." Jackson said, angrily. "You guys are bound to have clubs, knives, or tomahawks."
"He wasn't wrong. We were actually a mighty tribe. The Pedbony are renowned around other tribes for being docile, but deadly if provoked."
"So, you would have us give up all of our defenses?" Hottah asked. "What if we are attacked by warring tribes?" warring tribes were literally the last threat on Hottah's mind.
"Don't you worry Chief." Jackson said. "You'll have the good ol' Union backing you up."
"If we refuse?"
"Let me be frank. It will be viewed as an act of defiance, or even war. You will end up like the hundreds of other tribes who tried to rise against the Union."
Chief Hottah was speechless. His choice was basically be defenseless in case they were to be eradicated, or be eradicated.
"My father didn't have much of a choice. He had to think of the people. Everyone in the village gave up their weapons. Only really crude farming tools were allowed, but they were used under strict supervision of White soldiers. I was able to hide a few in my room. Luckily I never got caught." After a few months, Jackson marched on our village again.
"What is it now?" Chief Hottah asked. "We are getting ready for our sacred Snake dance and feast."
"Actually, that's what I came here to talk to you about." Jackson said with an evil smile. "The Higher ups are getting a little insecure about your little dances. We don’t want you to do any kind of Voodoo magic on us hehe. So I am formally telling you to stop them, if you know what's good for you."
"This custom was in our tribe for generations. Every hundred years, we would let one chosen man get bitten by a mythical snake. The snake would die immediately after, but if the man lived, it was said to give him mystical powers. This was supposed to be a special occasion for everyone in the tribe, but it was stripped from us."
Chief Hottah didn't want to give up the tradition, but the people of his tribe were more important. He watched helplessly as all the preparations for the dance were destroyed.
"That's a mighty fine looking snake you got there." General Jackson said. Admiring the gray and black snake. The pattern of its scales resembled that of cobblestone. It was called the cobblehead snake. "I think I'll keep it. Hey! One of you rosies get it for me!"
One of the tribesmen listened and put the snake inside of a mesh bag. They then promptly handed it to Jackson.
"I'll be back Chief." General Jackson said. "Lets see how the higher ups like your improvement."
"I once asked my father, why he didn’t speak out against this disrespect. My young mind thought we could reason with Jackson. But he would say that talking to Jackson was like banging your head against a wall of stone. I eventually grew up, and more of our freedoms were stripped by Jackson. That's when I decided to act."
One day, Chief Hottah found His daughter, Isi Nina, Preparing for what seemed to be a crude version of the Snake dance.
"Isi!" He yelled. "What do you think you are doing?"
"I'm tired Father." She sassed. "I'm tired of letting him step all over our tribe."
"This is for our survival." Hottah said. "This Is so the tribe doesn’t die out like the rest of them have."
"The people might be alive, but the tribe is dead."
Those words struck a chord with Hottah. As much as he tried to save his people, he knew his daughter's words were true.
"You can't do this Isi. Think about everyone. If we make it through this, we can revive our customs."
"yes, but playing dead so the bear doesn't eat us doesn't always work, does it father? Sometimes, you have to clap your hands hard enough, scream loud enough, and show your fangs. If we go down, at least we can wound the bear so bad that it can't hunt anymore. Without the ability to sustain itself, it will eventually die out or another animal will end it."
With that, Isi stormed out of the hut. That same night, Isi and a group of kids her age did the snake dance. Chief Hottah watched from a distance, but eventually he joined the dance. Soon the entire tribe was dancing.
The dance was then interrupted by gunfire. One of Isi's friends got shot in the head. Soon a volley of shots followed and people were dropping left and right. There was also the sound of a stampede. Surely Stonewall Jackson and his men were marching on the village, and they were out for blood.
"Isi. Try to help the women and Children escape." Chief Hottah told his daughter.
"Father, I hid away weapons. I ca-"
"I know Isi, but that will not do us any good. One woman cannot stop him, no matter how determined. Please. Go."
Isi listened to her father and ran off. She saw about a dozen mother's and their children hide in a hut. She ran toward that hut but then the hut exploded. Knocking her off balance. It was shot by a cannon. She slowly got back up, her ears ringing from the explosion. She tried to gather her bearings, but then she was hit in the head with the butt of a rifle. She could then feel herself being dragged by her braids.
"Hey Lieutenant, look what we done found! She's a pretty forest fruit ain't she?"
Terry could see the sadness in Isi's eyes as she told her story to them. "I'm so sorry." Terry said. "I know what It's like to be treated like nothing but dirt."
"You could never know how it's like." Isi wept. "This could have been avoided, had I just listened to my father."
"This was unavoidable." Deacon interrupted.
Isi and Terry both looked over at Deacon. His hat was covering his eyes. It was hard to see his emotions.
"If you hadn’t done what you did, they would have killed all you rosies slowly. Like cows getting ready to be slaughtered."
They were both silent.
"But you chose to go down swinging. You took a gamble, but it didn’t pay off. But know this, Have you done it later, you probably wouldn’t have met us. You’d be dead right now."
Isi couldn't believe what this guy was saying.
"Now, you have a chance to avenge them." Deacon continued. "This Stonewall Jackson guy isn’t gonna get away with this." Deacon looked up at both of them. His eyes were steely with determination. "I'm going to kill that scumbag!"
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